December 9, 2014

I have been happy to feature several South American countries during this month, but it unfortunately always initiates an enthusiastic round of "Feliz Navidad" from my children. Today we focused on Ecuador and the kids learned of the great pride the Ecuadorians take in their nativity scenes.

December 8, 2014

This is probably my worst costume to date. I posted the picture on instagram and one of my friends commented: "Master Splinter?!" Touche. I will give myself credit that after spending a summer in Nepal I know the proper way of putting on a sari. I have no defense as to why I put it on a (male) stuffed mouse.

December 2, 2014

Frohe Weihnachten! Our first stop around the world was Germany! My grandfather's side of the family was German, so many of the German traditions just feel "right" to me. Here is what Monty had to tell the girls about Christmas in Germany...

November 25, 2013

We don't "do" Santa at our house. (Jen Hatmaker sums up how I feel about Santa, probably better than I could.) So when the Elf on the Shelf became popular, I ignored it as an option for our family. What I wasn't expecting was that every one of my daughter's friends would have a family elf, and that those elves' antics were the daily talk on the playground. And I'll admit it, I was also getting a little jealous of what fun those families were having. Thus the Christmas Mouse was born!

September 3, 2013

My baby started kindergarten today! Our city does full-day kindergarten, so it's going to be quite the adjustment for everyone. We both managed not to cry at drop-off, but we gave each other some pretty watery smiles. I was so proud of how brave she tried to be. What a difference a few years make!